I stared at my life's work, scattered across the lab bench. My heart didn't just ache. It shattered.

The click of high heels echoed behind me.

"Harper."

Chloe pushed the door open. She'd changed out of her ceremony dress and into a white lab coat, trying to look professional.

"This position... it should have been yours," she said softly, her voice dripping with fake guilt.

I didn't stop, just kept packing my glass beakers.

"I may be high-born, but I only finished the potion thanks to your foundation," Chloe said, stepping closer. "If you're upset, I can ask Liam to compensate you."

I finally stopped.

I turned and looked at her perfect, lying face.

And I laughed.

"If you had an ounce of shame, you would renounce the title and the money," I said, my voice dangerously low. "Then you would get on your knees and apologize to me in front of the entire pack."

The sweet smile on Chloe's face froze.

"What did you say?"

"I said, give me back what's mine." I took a step toward her. "Then get out of my lab."

She stumbled back, her gentle mask crumbling away.

"You worthless Omega!" Her voice was shrill. "You were never good enough to be Chief Alchemist! You just had a few years' head start. I earned this!"

"A few years' head start?" I laughed out loud. "Chloe, the final version of 'Serenity' has only one new ingredient."

Her face turned white.

"It's called 'Moonshadow.' I found it on the black market when I was getting medicine for my father." I pulled out my phone and showed her the purchase history. "See? Time, place, price. It's all here."

"I was too busy, so I asked you to add it." I stared into her eyes. "So tell me, how did that become your discovery?"

Chloe's lips trembled. She had nothing to say.

"And another thing." I sniffed the air. "That cheap perfume you're wearing? It has a chemical reaction with 'Serenity.' It's pathetic. Our new Chief Alchemist doesn't even know the first rule of alchemy."

"You're lying!" she shrieked.

"Am I?" I suddenly grabbed her arm and yanked up her sleeve.

A patch of red spots was spreading across her skin.

"This rash is the proof." I sneered. "Should we go show everyone?"

"Let go of me!" Chloe ripped her arm away.

Her eyes darted around the room, landing on a small bottle on the corner of the lab bench.

It was the potion I had just made for Marcus. A pale blue liquid. His only hope.

"Using pack resources for yourself!" Chloe snatched the vial. "Making private potions for your pathetic father in the pack's lab!"

"Put. It. Down," I snarled, my voice dangerously low. "Liam approved that himself."

"You and your useless father should just die!"

She raised the vial high and slammed it onto the floor.

The sound of shattering glass filled the lab.

Blue liquid splashed everywhere.

That potion took me a full week to brew.

Marcus was getting worse. He needed more of it just to stay alive. Every drop was precious.

Rage erupted inside me.

My inner wolf howled.

And just like that, my control snapped.

I lunged for Chloe.

She didn't move. She just smiled, a smug look on her face. Like she wanted this.

My nails grew into sharp claws.

I raked them across her face.

"Aaargh!" Chloe screamed and fell, blood pouring from the wound.

Just then, the lab door burst open.

"Stop!"

Liam stormed in, his eyes burning with fury.

He saw Chloe on the floor, bleeding from three deep claw marks on her face. He instantly went feral.

"Harper!" his roar shook the entire lab. "What have you DONE?!"

Liam’s hand closed around my throat, lifting me off the ground.

His strength was terrifying.

I felt his fingers tighten, cutting off my air.

"She tried to kill me!" Chloe screamed from the floor. "She's a traitor!"

I struggled to breathe. My lungs burned.

My legs kicked uselessly in the air.

"I should have killed you long ago," Liam's eyes were pure red, his pupils slitted. "You filthy Omega. Daring to harm my Chief Alchemist."

Black spots danced in my vision. My head went light.

But I had to speak.

"Kill..." I forced the word out, my throat raw. "...me..."

"What?" Liam lifted me higher.

"Who'll make... your potion?"

The words hit him like a lightning bolt.

Liam froze for a second. A flicker of reason fought through the rage.

I was right. He needed the potion.

He'd been injecting "Serenity" every single night since I first made it, just to stay sane.

Who else could brew it for him?

But it was just a second.

"I don't need you!" he roared, slamming me to the ground. "Chloe is better than you!"

He slammed me against a solid silver mortar.

Sharp metal edges cut into my back. Blood soaked through my shirt.

"Get up," Liam ordered, looking down at me. His voice was ice. "I'm announcing your sentence."

I pushed myself up, my hand slipping in the growing pool of my own blood.

"Harper, formerly of the Silverclaw pack," Liam declared, "is hereby Exiled for treason, for attacking the Chief Alchemist, and for endangering the pack."

Exile.

The worst punishment a wolf could receive.

"I strip you of your pack name. I strip you of your right to shelter. I strip you of your safe passage." Every word was a nail in my coffin. "From this moment on, you are a Rogue. Any wolf who sees you is free to attack."

Chloe got to her feet. The rash was still on her face, but she was smiling.

"Now get out of my territory," Liam pointed to the door. "I want you gone in one hour."

I didn't speak.

I didn't beg. I didn't argue.

I grabbed my bag off the floor. As I shoved a few of my tools inside, my fingers brushed against a small, cold vial.

I slipped it into the bag's inner pocket.

It was the mother strain of Serenity. The source. They didn't even know it existed.

Then I walked to the door.

"Harper," Liam called out from behind me.

I turned back.

"If you dare tell anyone our secrets, I will rip out your tongue myself."

I looked at this man.

Nine years ago, he was just a young Alpha losing his mind.

My potion gave him his power. My loyalty built his empire.

And now, he wanted me dead.

"Understood," I said calmly.

Then I walked out without looking back.

I left them with their perfect new alchemist and a lab full of formulas.

What they didn't know was that I'd just stolen the heart of "Serenity" itself.

They put their faith in that fool. Now let’s watch her try to keep the ‘glory’ of Serenity from crumbling.

The slums were a world away from the gleaming towers of the city's heart.

No neon lights here. No skyscrapers. Just crumbling apartments and streets filled with trash.

Humans eked out a living here. So did a few rogues with nowhere else to go.

I pushed open a rusted iron door.

"Dad, I'm home."

A frail old man lay on the bed.

Marcus. My adoptive father.

"Harper?" Marcus struggled to open his eyes. "Why are you back so early?"

I sat on the edge of the bed. His forehead was burning up.

Without his medicine, his illness was eating him alive.

"I was exiled," I said simply.

Marcus tried to sit up, but he was too weak. "That bastard! After everything you did for him—"

"It's okay." I took a small vial from my bag. It was diluted "Serenity." "Drink this first."

Marcus took it and drank it all in one go.

A few minutes later, his breathing evened out. The fever started to break.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"We survive." I looked out the window at the night sky. "There's always a way."

Meanwhile, back at the Silverclaw tower.

Liam stood in the med-bay, watching a doctor check Chloe's face.

"It's just a superficial scratch," the doctor said. "It'll be fully healed in three days."

"Good," Liam said, relieved. "She can't miss the board meeting tomorrow."

Chloe leaned back on the bed. Her face was bandaged, but she was in a great mood.

"That bitch is finally gone," she said, pleased. "Now the lab is all ours."

"Of course." Liam walked to the window, looking down at the city he ruled. "The Werewolf Alliance deal is about to close. As long as we have the formula, we don't need her."

"She won't talk," Chloe scoffed. "She's a Rogue. Who's going to believe a word she says?"

Liam nodded.

He was sure he'd made the right call.

Harper was just a brewer. Easily replaced.

The formula was what mattered.

And all of those precious formulas were locked safely away in his lab.

For days, I took my last few vials of diluted "Serenity" to the black market.

"Get lost, Rogue," the first vendor said, waving me away. "We don't do business with traitors."

"It's life-saving medicine," I said, putting a vial on his table. "Only fifty dollars."

"Fifty?" He scoffed. "Authentic Silverclaw potions go for five grand a vial. This is either a cheap knock-off..."

"...Or it's poison." He stood up, baring his fangs. "I've heard the rumors, Harper. You tried to poison the real alchemist."

I picked up my vial and moved to the next stall.

It was the same story everywhere.

"Poisoner! Get out!"

"We don't want your poison!"

"Leave now or we'll make you!"

Not a single person on the entire street would buy from me.

Liam's lies spread faster than a plague.

I dragged my empty bag back to our rundown apartment.

Marcus was on the bed, looking worse than before.

His fever was back. His breathing was shallow.

"Did you sell any?" he asked, his voice weak.

"No," I said, sitting beside him. "I'll try somewhere else tomorrow."

"Don't lie to me, kid," Marcus said, struggling to sit up. "I can smell the desperation on you."

I looked down. He was right. We had nothing left.

"It's all my fault," Marcus said, taking my hand. "If I wasn't holding you back all those years... you could have had a better life."

"Don't say that."

"I'm going to find Liam," Marcus said, trying to get out of bed. "I'll fight him. I'll make him pay, even if it kills me."

"Dad, stop." I glanced at the full moon rising outside. "It's time. The little 'gift' I left Liam is about to expire. He'll come crawling back soon enough. With our money and our dignity."

It had been exactly fourteen days since I left Silverclaw.

The flawed formula Chloe was now using was a time bomb. And the clock had just run out.

Marcus didn't understand.

But I knew.

The imitation "Serenity" I'd left behind was only stable for fourteen days.

Tonight's full moon would speed up its decay.

If Liam injected it tonight, he'd find its power was gone.

I stared at my phone, and I waited.

At nine o'clock, it rang.

The caller ID read: Liam.

I let it ring.

The call ended. It immediately rang again.

Still Liam.

I ignored it.

The third time, I heard chaos erupt on the other end—low growls, shattering glass, and panicked shouts.

I answered.

"Harper!" Liam's voice was tight with suppressed fury. "Get back here. Now!"

"Why?" my voice was calm. "I'm just an exiled Rogue."

"The potion is failing!" His voice started to shake. "The warriors who took it... they aren't calming down. They're getting worse! Their eyes are turning red. Some of them are starting to shift!"

More growls echoed from his end. The sound of things being smashed.

"That's strange," I said. "Didn't Chloe say she improved the formula?"

"Stop playing games!" he roared. "What did you do to the potion?"

"I didn't do anything." I looked out at the full moon. "Maybe Chloe's 'talent' ran into a problem."

The line went silent for a few seconds.

Then I heard Chloe shriek, "That's impossible! I only adjusted the concentration! A higher dose should have made it stronger!"

"Sounds like your new alchemist is very confident," I said with a smirk.

"Harper, if you don't want to die out there, you will come back now!" Liam's threat was laced with desperation. "As your Alpha, I command—"

"Liam," I cut him off, my voice pure ice. "I am a Rogue. And Rogues don't take orders."

"You—"

"You want my help?" I gazed down at the city lights, a slow, cold smile touching my lips. "Fine. But my help doesn't come cheap. Fifty million. In cash. A public apology, clearing my name. And you'll do it in front of the entire Werewolf Council."